Your Song In December
by ZERO-xxx
Summary: December was the month they got married in, the month their daughter was born, and the month when he lost her. [Jelsa] [Modern AU] [Cute Father/Daughter moments] [Oneshot]


**A/N**

Get ready for Jack and Elsa's cute little daughter. :)

 **Your Song In December**

 _Jelsa oneshot; Modern AU_

 _Summary: December was the month they got married in, the month their daughter was born, and the month when he lost her._

* * *

The soft hissing noise the fire made over the gas stove was immediately quelled after a small teapot was placed on top of it. As the water inside of it simmered to a boil, the light tune of a hum filled the cozy kitchen. A man, in his early thirties, but appearing as if he was still in the prime of his youth, whisked his way around the countertops that were covered in fresh vegetables and meat. He was busy in preparation for a meal with a very important person after all.

Just as the teapot began to blare loudly, signaling that the water had come to a hot boil, the back door to the modest house flew open. A chilly wind permeated the warm air inside the house as the man quickly turned off the stove and strode over to the door. There, he greeted his five year old daughter, who had just come back from school. The bus that had dropped her off roared down the street as he gently closed the door behind her.

"Daddy!" the little girl cheered, her voice muffled as she was swathed in a thick scarf that covered her neck as well as her little nose and mouth. She giggled as he quickly unwrapped her from the restrictive clothes that were starting to dampen from the melting snow and ice that were stuck to the cotton fibers. The silvery-blond haired girl smiled ear-to-ear for her father, happy to see him after a long day of school.

At this, he chuckled and rubbed the top of her small head. "It was really cold outside, right?" She nodded and then he chuckled in response. "Would you like some hot chocolate, Anya?"

"Yes, please!" she exclaimed, grinning toothily to reveal a gap where her baby teeth used to be. The little girl helped herself out of her own parka and shoes as her father went over to the cupboards to take out two mugs, one for him and one for her.

"How was school?" the silver haired man asked his daughter as he poured the hot water into the mugs.

Anya climbed up onto one of the chairs at their dinner table and answered back cheerfully, "it was fun!"

However, her father knew better, despite her wide smile. He picked up the two steaming hot mugs and set them down on the dinner table. He looked to her inquiringly, raising an eyebrow at her. "Was that it?" he asked as he went back towards the kitchen counter to grab a small container that were filled with mini marshmallows.

"...Y...Yeah!"

His expression fell slightly as he turned to face his daughter once more. "Anya…" he asked carefully, approaching the dinner table and taking a seat on the chair adjacent to hers. "What's wrong?"

The young girl averted her light blue eyes away from her father's. She didn't answer him for a while and simply resorted to kicking her short legs back and forth against the legs of the chair.

"What's wrong?" he asked her again, leaning over to try and get a better look at his daughter's face. He knew her better than anyone. Anya would always come home after school with dozens of stories to tell. The fact that she was silence meant that something was definitely bothering her.

She pursed her tiny lips together and puffed up her round cheeks, hesitating. Finally, she stammered out, "t - today...Puddles was gone."

"Gone?" He knew that by _'Puddles'_ , Anya was referring to her kindergarten class' pet turtle.

Anya nodded her head sadly, sniffling back a tear. "Since it's cold now, Ms. Claussen bought a heating lamp for Puddles, but - _uhm_ \- she told us the lamp turned off during the nighttime and that he had to ... _leave_."

The man frowned slightly at the sight of his daughter suppressing her distress over the situation. Anya was never really expressive of her other emotions other than lighthearted happiness. She took after him on that - always looking for new ways to have fun, to make others laugh, and to make herself happy. Of course, she did it in moderation compared to how he was in his youth.

"Daddy…?" Anya quietly whispered as she stared at the rippling surface of her hot chocolate. "Puddles isn't - _'gone',_ is he?"

And she was sharp - that aspect of her taken from her intelligent mother. He was proud that his daughter was wise beyond her years, but at this time, he wished she wasn't. How was he going to explain the very concept of death to a five year old without further upsetting her?

"Puddles is...," he started out slowly, trying to find and choose his words carefully. He let his hand go over to the small container that carried the mini marshmallows and picked one up in between his calloused fingers. As he dropped it into his daughter's drink gently, he continued, "he is gone."

His eyebrows fell drearily at the sight of his daughter's round blue eyes reflecting confusion and grief, but regardless, she still nodded her head as if she was telling him that she understood. "Will he ever come back?" she asked quietly.

He hesitated, biting his lower lip. "...No," he simply responded, putting good faith into his daughter's wisdom and trusting her to understand what he was trying to get at. "You see, Anya...Puddles - _died_."

"... _Died?_ "

He regretted his word choice for being too blunt, but Anya didn't seem to react too negatively to the word. Most likely, because she had no idea what the word meant. "That's right," he told her gently.

The petite little girl frowned slightly and she snapped her head around towards her father. "Is that the same thing as leaving, Daddy?"

"Mm, you could say that," he replied with a little smile, deciding to keep it simple and short. There was no need for her to know the concept of death, right now at least.

"So then...he could come back," Anya convinced herself, wrinkling her nose at the confusing, new concept of death. "People who leave...always end up coming back, right Daddy?"

The caring father chuckled softly. "That's right, Anya. Hey, look at you - you're smarter than me," he remarked playfully as he rubbed the top of her head, messing up her silver-blond hair.

Anya giggled as she lifted the cup to her lips. As she sipped cautiously at the hot liquid, she watched her father get up from his seat and walk over to the kitchen counter, resuming his dinner preparations. She listened to the dull, repetitive thump of the knife against the cutting board as he sliced through the vegetables. Languidly, she let her curious eyes wander over to some of the picture frames set up near the coffee maker just a few feet away from the dinner table.

The silvery haired girl blinked for a while, staring at the two photos that were of her and her father when they took a trip up to the mountains last month. She smiled happily at the fond memory and her eyes moved over to the third framed photo. Her father was wearing a clean, sharp tuxedo in that one, while carrying a beautiful, blond haired woman dressed in a blooming white wedding dress. They were both in mid-laughter when the photo was taken, visibly enamored with each other and overwhelmed with happiness. Anya studied the photo for quite some time before turning her head back towards her father.

"If Puddles will come back soon, we can see Mommy again too, right, Daddy? She'll come back just like him?"

The entire kitchen grew silent, Jack holding the knife over the vegetables he was chopping with such still precision that it looked like he was frozen to the spot. Anya curiously blinked as she stared at the back of her father's head.

"...Daddy?"

She was not quite sure why he would not answer her question, when normally he would answer her questions without hesitation, but that was because Jack Frost suddenly did not know how to tell his daughter that her mother - his wife - wouldn't come back.

Jack gently placed the knife down on the cutting board and tried to answer her in the best way possible. He hesitated briefly before answering, "Y - Yes...of course, Anya," he lied, unable to tell her the truth.

The young girl squealed in delight as she clapped her hands together. "I hope we can see her soon! Mommy looks _so_ pretty in the photos Daddy keeps of her!"

He could feel his heart plummeting sharply at the pure innocence of which his daughter spoke of her mother. Jack had told her that death wasn't the end, but the harsh reality of it was the exact opposite. Why did he tell Anya that? Why did he avoid the topic of her mother for this long? His reasoning all this time was that he knew that she had to know someday, but it wasn't something that a five year old needed to know now.

Especially when her mother died while giving birth to her.

It was something that Jack never wanted his daughter to know, even if she were to grow up to be a young adult herself. The guilt and pain it would bring her would hurt him as well, knowing that his child would carry that burden with her for the rest of her life.

Anya giggled into her two, small hands. "I hope Mommy likes turtles because it would be great if she could come back with Puddles."

Jack's heart throbbed painfully in his chest. He was sure that Anya's teacher lied to their class because she probably had plans to purchase a new turtle and simply explain that Puddles was away on a trip, but there was no way he could do the same.

As his wife or Anya's mother - Elsa was _irreplaceable._

Right after her death, his friends, Aster and Thiana suggested that he remarry just so that Anya wouldn't grow up motherless. However, he was vehemently against it, saying that he would much rather raise her himself than have another woman take Elsa's place. It would be an insult to her and himself. There was no way Jack could ever fall that deeply in love with another woman like he did with Elsa. She made sure that he felt loved and he made sure that she was loved.

Jack brought his left hand up and gently touched the silver band he wore on his ring finger, indicative of his marriage with Elsa. He missed her dearly and he knew that Anya missed her just as much, despite never meeting her. With a shaking breath, Jack recollected his thoughts and told himself to calm down. The last thing he wanted to do was fall into another depressive episode in front of his own daughter.

He resumed his preparation for dinner, slowly.

"Daddy? Are you going to drink your hot chocolate?" Anya asked.

"No, you can have it," he replied, turning back to give her a little smile. "Just don't let it spoil your appetite for dinner."

"I won't!" she exclaimed, happily taking her father's mug and drinking away at the sweet refreshment. As she licked her rosy lips after finishing it, she suddenly let out a gasp and snapped her head around towards her father. "Daddy! Daddy! I almost forgot! Ms. Claussen gave us a song to practice for our winter recital!"

"Did she now?" he asked, washing some of the kitchen utensils in the sink. As he dried his hands afterwards, he could hear her rifling through her backpack and pulling out some papers. At the silence he heard, Jack wrinkled his brow slightly and turned back to his daughter. "Anya?" he asked, seeing a look of uncertainty on her delicate face, "what's wrong?"

She scrunched up her small lips briefly before releasing them. "I - I wish I could sing as well as Mommy could. I don't think I'm good enough," she mumbled, dropping the music sheets onto the table in front of her. With a defeated sigh, the young girl bowed her head, her long hair curtaining her face.

"You can sing just as well as Mommy," Jack reassured her, wiping his hands completely dry and coming up to her. He knelt down beside her chair so that he was eye level with her and he flashed her his trademark mischievous smirk. "I think you might be even better than her too," he suggested, causing her round blue eyes to widen.

"Really?"

Her excitement mounted when Jack nodded and answered, "Mommy told me herself. She thinks Anya could be much better than her, that is - " he lightly poked her nose, earning him a bubbly soft giggle, "- as long as you keep practicing."

With a renewed confidence, Anya puffed out her chest and excitedly kicked her legs back and forth underneath the table. Seeing this, Jack took the music sheets in his hands and held them out in front of her.

"Let's see…" he said, using his index finger to point at the first line of lyrics, "how about I start off with you and you can finish the rest?"

Anya seemed ecstatic by the mere idea. She nodded her head vigorously and exclaimed, "okay!"

Gently and slowly, they started singing -

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star

How I wonder what you are

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky ...

* * *

 _" ...As your bright and tiny spark_

 _Lights the traveller in the dark,_

 _Though I know not what you are,_

 _Twinkle, twinkle, little star."_

The young woman frowned as it looked like she was pushing away at the camera. _"Oh come on, Jack,"_ she urged with a nervous laugh, _"is it really necessary to film it?"_

As Jack's blue eyes fondly flickered over the dimly lit tablet screen, he let a smile play upon his face when he heard his voice from behind the camera.

 _"Hey - as dad in-training, it's my job to start documenting little Anya's life as soon as possible."_

Jack chuckled in unison with himself when the camera zoomed in on the rotund stomach of his pregnant wife, then panning up to meet her disgruntled expression.

 _"You better not have that zoomed in,"_ Elsa warned, her frown deepening.

 _"I'm not, I'm not - "_

 _" - Jack…"_

 _"Okay, maybe a little,"_ he admitted, earning him a sharp scoff from his wife.

The camera zoomed out once more. _"Is this really the first impression you want to give our daughter?"_ Elsa asked with a raised eyebrow. _"That her father is nothing, but a child himself?"_

Jack snickered. _"Then it looks like you'll have to take care of two kids once Anya arrives."_

 _"Please,"_ said with a smooth roll of her eyes. She smiled as the camera approached her closely once more.

 _"Okay, okay. My arm's getting tired."_ Jack saw it being turned around and on the screen, he could see himself, one arm outstretched as he held the camera and the other arm wrapped around his wife's shoulders. With a wide grin, he waved his hand at the camera, as did Elsa.

 _"We can't wait until we see you, Anya!"_ he said towards the camera.

 _"Mommy and Daddy will be waiting!"_ Elsa added on, laughing softly as she was pulled into Jack's arms for a kiss on the side of her head. _"We love you, Anya!"_

After one last wave, the video clip ended and Jack sighed as he held the tablet in his hands. His smile faded into that of a solemn one and he gently touched the screen with the tip of his fingers, desperately wishing that by doing so, he could somehow return back to that moment. As his fingers finally left the screen, he could feel his daughter stirring against him in the darkness of her bedroom.

"Is it over…?" she asked, rubbing her eyes with her tiny fists.

Jack chuckled, rubbing the top of her head as he got up from her bed. "Yeah," he answered softly.

Anya mumbled groggily, "I always end up falling asleep halfway through."

He laughed as he turned off the tablet and set it on her nightstand. Jack better tucked his daughter into her bed and told her, "Mommy's voice makes you fall asleep, huh?"

The little girl nodded her head against the pillow. She closed her eyes and muttered, "...I can't wait until she comes back. I want her to sing me to sleep every night."

Jack's gaze fell, but he kept the soft smile upon his face. With a chuckle, he asked "I'm guessing those bedtime stories I read you aren't doing it, huh?"

" _Nuh-uh_ ," Anya answered honestly, causing Jack to laugh in response.

"Well then...I'll tell Mommy that Anya misses her very much."

"Daddy too…"

"Hm?"

He saw his daughter smiling gently as she drifted in and out of sleep. "I think Daddy misses Mommy a lot too...so...Mommy should come back soon." She giggled. "She could sing for both of us."

Unable to say anything else to that, Jack simply let out a soft sound in agreement and placed a little kiss atop his daughter's head.

"Goodnight, Anya…" he whispered, giving her one last smile, before turning to leave. However, before he could, he stopped beside the nightstand and looked down at the tablet he had left. Jack stared at it for a good while, as if contemplating an idea, before taking it in his hands once more.

With a few swipes of his finger across the clear glass screen, he set the video of Elsa singing, on play.

As soon as he could hear himself and her talking, Jack set the tablet back down on the nightstand and left the bedroom just as he heard his wife's melodic voice pour out from the speakers softly.

"Goodnight...Elsa."

* * *

 **A/N**

You can all proceed to hate me.

Anya is the Russian variant of the name 'Anna.' I thought it sounded pretty and Elsa would probably love to have named her daughter after her loving sister. :) I also wanted to use this name for this oneshot, because I like it a lot, but I actually scrapped this name from the drawing board from Marionette for reasons I cannot say at this time haha.

Hope you guys enjoyed that ending. I'm sorry, I cannot give back your hearts as I already thrown them into the furnace along with mine.

Oh yeah, happy new years!

-ZERO-


End file.
